Rick Ferri | Private

“Bogleheads on Investing” podcast co-host; hourly advise-only adviser; authored six books on index funds, ETFs & asset allocation; retired Marine fighter pilot.

[John C. Bogle Center for Financial Literacy @bogleheads]

Where did index funds come from?

Rick Ferri (@Rick_Ferri) interviews Robin Wigglesworth, author of “Trillions,” on the latest Bogleheads® on #Investing.

Listen to the whole episode - link in the comments below 👇

$VTSAX

[Rick Ferri, CFA @Rick_Ferri]

Another Fidelity adviser screwjob.

Client's parents live in CA, a community property state. Mother dies, father goes to a nursing home. Their JTWROS account has $1m in unrealized gains. Fidelity gets the son (POA) to put $200,000 from insurance proceeds into a Direct Indexing SMA to offset his inevitable federal and state capital gains tax.

What's wrong with this picture?

[Rick Ferri, CFA @Rick_Ferri]

Clarification: The assets were in a family trust. When mom died and dad went into the nursing home, the young son was made trustee (he also had POA). My mistake.

[Rick Ferri, CFA @Rick_Ferri]

What Jack Bogle didn't tell us about the creation and evolution of index funds, Robin Wigglesworth does tell us in his book, "Trillions: How a Band of Wall Street Renegades Invented the Index Fund and Changed Finance Forever." @bogleheads podcast:

https://t.co/DgU74n7tjw

[Rick Ferri, CFA @Rick_Ferri]

This is happening again…

[Rick Ferri, CFA @Rick_Ferri]

There is a fake Facebook group called “The Bogleheads” where they are telling people to message me for investment advice using a fake messenger link. It is a fraud.

[Rick Ferri, CFA @Rick_Ferri]

SHOCKING! Academic study paid for by the “Investment Adviser Association Active Managers Council” discovered active manager performance was better than reported by S&P SPIVA. They say nothing of all other studies confirming SPIVA data (M* for example).

https://t.co/hg4d40rwz0

[Rick Ferri, CFA @Rick_Ferri]

There’s belief among advisers that adding asset classes with low correlation increases return without adding risk. That portfolio benefit is extremely difficult to forecast and can be costly to implement. It’s best not expect a benefit. Great if it happens, but don’t count on it!

[Rick Ferri, CFA @Rick_Ferri]

I have just been told someone is masquerading as me on WhatsApp and asking for personal financial information. If you see this, it’s a scam.

[Rick Ferri, CFA @Rick_Ferri]

The Rolling Stones on investing:

"You can't always get what you want
But if you try sometime, you'll find
You get what you need."

We want to outperform, but it's very hard. So, when investing in stocks, at least earn a market return. We do that with total market index funds.

[Rick Ferri, CFA @Rick_Ferri]

I am happy to see more young multi-millionaires abandoning the illusion of excess investment returns sold by advisers pushing complex strategies for the simplicity of target date index funds in retirement accounts and $VTI / $VXUS, and a municipal bond fund in taxable accounts.

[Frazer Rice @frazerrice]

New @wealthactually: Most Investors Make This One Mistake (Complexity)
https://t.co/ilEFC6zQT2

[Frazer Rice @frazerrice]

On @Spotify with @Rick_Ferri -

https://t.co/05HKacPjTF

[Rick Ferri, CFA @Rick_Ferri]

Thank you for having me on your podcast!

[Rick Ferri, CFA @Rick_Ferri]

When it's all said and done - if we're being totally honest - by the time one reaches a ripe old age, most stock investors will earn more money in a buy-and-hold total global equity index portfolio than doing anything else. A few non-believers will get lucky; most will not.

[Rick Ferri, CFA @Rick_Ferri]

Thanks for having me on the podcast!

[Rick Ferri, CFA @Rick_Ferri]

The problem with buying core equity index funds and tilting to styles, sectors, or individual stocks, is that you can be wrong for a very long time, and when that happens, you’ll go to the next shiny thing trying to find alpha, which will also eventually stop working. The process

[Rick Ferri, CFA @Rick_Ferri]

will repeat, causing long-term underperformance, until you see the futility of it all. That’s when you’ll finally see the “majesty of simplicity” (Bogle) and switch to only total market index funds. BTW, M* does a study on this behavior every year. https://t.co/LZW973gglo

[Rick Ferri, CFA @Rick_Ferri]

I am a global equity index investor who does not advocate for taking bets in sectors, styles, or countries. If, during our lifetime, we earn our fair share of global market returns using total market index funds, we will outperform an overwhelming majority of equity investors who do something else. I can’t ask for more than that.

[Rick Ferri, CFA @Rick_Ferri]

When I write on X a single world equity index fund (VT) or ~65% total US stocks (VTI) and ~35% total international stocks (VXUS) is all the equity most people need to achieve their objectives, the pushback I get isn’t from individuals, it’s from advisers who charge high AUM fees.